penelope's birth story

It seems time has passed even quicker now than when Olivia was born, but maybe it's because I have two little girls to keep me busy, or maybe as I wish harder and harder to slow down time or stop it altogether from passing, it somehow seems to speed up. 

One of my biggest focuses going into the newborn stage again the second time was to cherish every moment as much as possible; to memorize Penelope's face, her scent, her movements, her breathing, every little characteristic about her. No matter the time of day, the hour, or what else was going on around me. 

As a first time mom with Olivia, I felt like my main goal was just to survive. This time, I've been much more intentional with the goal to thrive. To enjoy each day & each night. To live life as fully as I can amidst the exhaustion and expected sleep deprivation. And it's amazing how much different (and better) of an experience it is this time around.

Our sweet little Poppy will be one month old on Saturday, and we're so excited to also be having family fall photos done that day. I thought it would be a perfect week to share her birth story, so that's below.

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My due date (September 7) had come and gone, and I truly had no idea when Penelope would arrive. Olivia was born at 38w2d, so I was quite surprised to be sitting talking with my midwife at 40w2d (September 9) about my options. We scheduled an induction for the following Monday (September 14) and that was that. That night (September 9), around 9:30pm as I was tucking Olivia into bed and reading her books, my water broke. I hadn't been feeling any contractions my entire pregnancy, and labor the first time around started with my water breaking as well.

We quickly grabbed our bags, called my Mom to head over to stay with Olivia, and headed out. Side note: I don't think Olivia got to bed until 11pm that night, as she was running around the house beyond excited. I have truly never seen her that excited in my life, it was hilarious to watch. On top of that, Nana is her favorite person in the world so she was pumped up.

We got to the hospital around 10:15pm and I was admitted right away. After being put on the monitor, I was checked and at a 5cm (around 10:30/10:45pm) but my contractions were still irregular and not incredibly painful. Around 11:30pm, I got into the soaking tub in our room to labor and literally as soon as I got in, I felt like I needed to push. I'm pretty sure I went from 5cm to 10cm in the blink of an eye. By then my contractions were crazy strong and completely on top of each other.

Because I was doing a water birth, I knew I would be moved to the water birthing suite down the hall but my labor was progressing so quickly, the tub wasn't even filled yet. As soon as I was able, I got out of the tub in our room and got into the birthing tub in our new room, right around 12:10am. Five pushes later, at 12:38am, our sweet Penelope was born into the water.

Water is incredibly soothing to me; I take bubble baths almost every single night. When we found out we were pregnant on New Year's Day, I asked my husband Dustin (who so conveniently happens to be a Master Licensed Plumber) if we could update our master bathroom with a new extra deep soaking tub so I could take baths during my pregnancy. I didn't do a water birth the first time around but knew I wanted to try it and absolutely loved it. Although my labor was still unbelievably painful, I felt so comfortable and at ease in the warm water and loved that Penelope transitioned into a similar  environment from that which she came. I plan to do a waterbirth with all my future babies, hopefully even one at home someday!

All in all, my labor began at 9:30pm and about three hours later, P was born. I had a long and exhausting 15 hour labor with Olivia so this was a completely different experience, but my Mom was in labor with me for 36 hours so still, no complaints!

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!! XO